Anyone have their Audio Aero Capitole MKII yet?

I received mine yesterday. I never heard the Mk-I in my system so I cannot address that comparison. I can say this, right out of the box with NO warm-up I have mixed feelings. My former reference was the Sonic Frontiers Transport 3 and Processor 3. This VERY early impression (which, to me, means nothing but you asked about "right out of the box" impressions) are first, that it lives up to its wonderful analog sounding reputation (this thing is less "digital" sounding than the T3/P3). Second, however, it is less detailed than the T3/P3 and, RIGHT NOW at least, its bass impact and defintion are much less impressive than the T3/P3. I fully expect this to change from all that I have heard about how it changes after burn-in.

I am running it 24/7 and have David Elrod's EPS-2 power cord on it so I expect it will be impressing me MUCH more very soon. I will write more when it really has had a chance to stut its stuff.

Again, THIS IS A RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX IMPRESSION SO TAKE IT AS ONLY THAT AND NOTHING ELSE.

. . it IS getting better and better as it burns in. Tonight I listened after approximately 50 hours of continuous play and the bass has already improved substantially. I also thought that out of the box it sounded a little congested at higher volumes and that too is changing. I have noticed that it sounds better if I DO NOT have the volume on the player all the way up and use my preamp at higher gain. I have a Lamm L2 Reference preamp that may be being overloaded when the volume is all the way up. When the player is fully burned in I am going to see if I can eliminate the linestage by going straight out of the Capitole either directly into my amps or using a passive.

If this thing keeps improving, it should be a great player.

Gerryn, I had my Lamm L2 before the AA because my old reference Cd front end did not have the abiltiy to go straight into the amps. BUT, I have heard mixed opinions on whether the AA sounds better direct or through a high quality line stage (or, as Mike LaVigne uses it, with a Placette Passive).

So, if the AA sounds better without the necessity of a $14,000 line stage, I can sell it an buy LOTS of LPs or CDs or, God forbid, SAVE the $$$!! (NOT! I'll likely feed my addiction and illness and upgrade something else!).

I TOO am having the problem getting the AA to play almost ANY track whether I try to play a specific track # or just use the < or > buttons to access a different track. THIS even happened on two NEW discs last night. Yes, the player is sounding better and better and seems to be cruising to world class status. BUT, at close to $9,000 and the new Philips Pro transport, I don't think it is too much to ask that it at least PLAY the tracks!! Bad, let me know what your dealer says about the volume issue. If anyone esles gets any info on what they plan to do on the tracking problem, please let us know.

Thanks guys.

First, thanks for the update! I have found that at times (not all the time) I cannot switch tracks at all using either the remote or the front panel of the unit. For example, if track #1 is playing and I want to play track #6, if I press #6 on the remote OR try to skip tracks using the > button on the remote OR the unit, the digital read-out on the front panel says "Track #6" but it does nothing and does not play at all. This gets frustrating as hell, I can tell you that. BUT, as I said, it doesn't do it all the time.

What concerns me is that it is NOT just doing it with the remote.

Any input you get will be appreciated. I will also call Matt or Jody at Globe tomorrow as they are GREAT guys and VERY helpful and accommodating!!

On a positive note - I was hoping (both before I received my AA and for a day or two into burn-in) that I had not made a mistake selling my Sonic Frontiers T3/P3. Well, after about 160 hours of continuous play, I can say now that I did NOT make a mistake selling the T3/P3 from a sonic perspective. This player has almost all of the strengths of the T3/P3 but none of the weaknesses. The AA has much less digital glare than the T3/P3 had in my system. More as the process continues.

Well, all I can say is that I did NOT make any mistake in selling my Sonic Frontiers T3/P3 combo. Don't get me wrong, the T3/P3 combo was a stellar performer in many ways and had LOOKS and a remote that put the AA to shame. Ah, but it is the sonics that count for me so I don't fret about the cheesy remote or what I consider to be a Mickey Mouse sliding door mechanism. In my system and for my tastes, the AA is simply more enjoyable than the T3/P3.

I am also glad (KNOCK ON WOOD) that the tracking problem has stopped. Badwisdom's posts also confirm my intitial finding that the AA sounded MUCH better through my Lamm L2 Ref at about 70-75% (as opposed to 100%) with the Lamm providing more gain (I am still going to try direct into the amps when fully burned in).

There is NO congestion (as I heard at first with the AA at full volume), now the bass is deep, full, impactful and tight (thank God), there is such a lack of digititis that I don't think I can go back to any other "digital" sounding player again (which include almost everything out there save a few). This player is all it had been praised about to me. Oh sure, I can nit pick the hardware, but when I hit the PLAY button I couldn't care less about the hardware.

A FULL review when I get it fully burned in and used to it.

Now that I believe that my AA is fully burned in (it has been running 24/7 for 19 days, I can say that for MY tastes, in MY system, and compared to any other CD players I have heard in my system (Sonic Frontiers T3/P3, Cary 306/200. Sony SCD-1 and 9000ES, Wadia 850), this player is clearly superior to them all and, in most cases, by a LARGE margin. Without doing a full review at this time, suffice it to say that, as has been advertised and written about this player, it is the most analog player I have ever heard. BUT, I was worried that SOME people may interpret "analog" or "tube-like" as mushy, or as rounded or rolled off to achieve the lack of digital glare. NOT so with this player. It has more inner detail than I had expected, wonderfully extended highs and, MUCH to my surprise and amazement FULL, extended, deep, well-articulated bass. In fact, I was worried that I was going to have to "settle" for less than stellar bass with the AA to gain its analog like sound. NO WAY JOSE! This puppy has the most incredible and life-like harmonics, overtones, and transient attack on bass lines I have heard to date.

This player has great image, focus and soundstaging (both depth and width) now (it wasn't nearly as good out of the box or even one week into burn-in) and such a "you are there" lifelike presence it can be spooky.

I will stop here and simply say that for my system, this is the best player I have heard to date and one I could live with for a long time.

I would also like to mention that I had been HORRIBLY upset and frustrated with the people in France (AA) during the long wait and broken delivery promises, but the people at the importer, Globe Marketing (Matt and Jody) have been true gentlemen and a pure class act to deal with. As you may know from my previous threads, I (and I believe Badwisdom) have had some tracking problems with my unit. I called Matt and he said he was aware of the problem, that two or three players escaped with this problem (and the guy who allowed that to happen has been put to death! just kidding!), and he offered me either: (1) a new player (I decided I did not want to go through break-in again); (2) a one day turn-around for them to fix it; or (3) to send me the plug-in chip to fix the problem that I could install myself (I opted for #3). GREAT service from a great guy - Thanks Matt!